System and method for calculating and displaying estimated wait times for transaction request based on the skill required to process the transaction request

ABSTRACT

A reception management system for handling transactions includes a plurality of ACMs (Automated Contract/Consulting Terminals) for receiving procedure requests for predetermined transactions from customers, a plurality of ROTs (Remote Operation Terminals) to be employed by an operator for handling the procedure requests, a server for storing information for managing the operators for each transaction skill, and information about queues formed for each transaction skill upon a procedure request accepted from an ACM, and a queue monitoring terminal for monitoring the queues by receiving information from the SACD server.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION:

The present application is a divisional application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/106,567, filed Mar. 26, 2002.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a reception management system having acustomer terminal typically placed at a business office or branch of afinancial institution, and an operator terminal typically placed at abusiness center of the financial institution, and more particularly to areception management system for creating a queue for each transactionupon a request from the customer.

BACKGROUND

In financial institutions such as banks, ATMs (Automated TellerMachines) installed at unattended stations such as a cash service flooror a convenience store may be vigorously employed to make transactionswith customers. However, various kinds of procedures for loans, such ashome loans, or various kinds of notices, such as address change notices,cannot be processed at the ATM or unattended station, and suchtransactions are instead performed between a customer and a bank clerkat a branch window of the bank, for example.

To provide services not offered by an ATM or unattended station in anunattended environment, a system having an ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) as a core has been proposed. This systemallows transactions to be made, including a transaction of opening acomposite ordinary account and issuing a bankbook rapidly, and atransaction of automatically accepting an application for a card loan ora credit card at a remote site. For example, a bi-directional videoconference system is provided to enable the bank clerk (operator) at theremote site to deal with a question or a consultation, whereby thetransaction process that conventionally could not be performed except bythe direct reception can be made in the unattended environment.

In the system environment having an ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) as a core, a screen/data sharing technique between two remotesites employing Java, for example, has been employed. With thesetechniques, a customer who operates the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) and the bank clerk can perform the process,while watching the screen in the same progress. Therefore, the customercan be given appropriate advice by the bank clerk if the customer isconfused with the operation, or needs to refer to a selection screen forthe commodity.

Upon a connection request for each transaction from the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) settled at a business office or branch, forexample, a ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) placed at a business centerof the financial institution is connected. Generally, the number of ROTs(Remote Operation Terminals) is smaller than the number of ACMs(Automated Contract/Consulting Machines), and it is difficult toallocate all the requests from the ACMs (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachines) to the ROTs (Remote Operation Terminals) at the same time.

Conventionally, only a message such as “Not connectable due tocongestion at present” was returned to the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine), and a connection request with the ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) from the customer was simplyrefused. As a result, the financial institution lost a transaction withpotential profit, causing a significant loss of opportunity.

At the conventional business office or branch counter, the customerstands in a line with a number ticket, and is called from the window inturn to make a transaction with the bank clerk. At this time, there isno problem if the transaction is done with a single item of business,but if there is any entry error or lack of a necessary document, of ifit is necessary to fill in another form, or if a transaction is acceptedonly at another window, the customer must stand at the end of the linewith a number ticket again. Even when the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) is employed, in the above-mentioned cases,the customer is required to line up again at the end of a queue,resulting in a very long waiting time. Also, when the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) is connected to the operator in charge ofanother transaction due to an operation error of the customer, it isnecessary to newly connect to the operator in charge of correcttransaction. In this case, the waiting time is longer, like lining up atthe end of a queue, which is an unfavorable state for the customer.

SUMMARY

The present invention has been conceived to solve the aforementionedtechnical problems. It is an object of the invention to optimize awaiting time of the customer in assigning the operator operating anoperator terminal upon a reception request from a customer terminal.

It is another object of the invention to estimate reception waiting timemore accurate by taking into consideration the time for which onetransaction is completed in accordance with the degree of expertness inthe transaction skills of the operator.

It is a further object of the invention to reduce a loss of opportunityby suppressing the refusal for a connection request from the customer.

It is a still another object of the invention to make it possible tochange the priority level of the customer in a queue.

To attain the above objects, the present invention includes a scheme forallocating the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) as an operation terminalinstalled at a business center to the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) as a customer terminal placed at a business office or branch ofthe financial institution upon a connection request for each transactionfrom the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine), in which a queuefor each transaction such as a loan or an investment trust is providedto efficiently allocate the customer to the person in charge ofacceptance (operator). According to an aspect of the invention, amanagement system for handling transactions comprises a plurality ofcustomer terminals for receiving a request for a predeterminedtransaction from a customer, a plurality of operator terminals forhandling the request from the customer terminal by an operator, and acomputer system (server), in response to the request from the customerterminal, for assigning an operator terminal that can handle therequested transaction, wherein the computer system (server) has adatabase for storing transaction management information including, foreach operator terminal the transaction type that can be handled by theoperator and reception waiting information including the status of theoperator terminal, together with data items on transactions that can behandled.

The management system for handling transactions further comprisescalculating means for calculating a waiting time of the customer foreach transaction based on the transaction management information and thereception waiting information that are stored in the database, whereinthe operator terminal displays the waiting time calculated by thecalculating means and an estimated waiting time that is updated with theelapse of time. Preferably, the waiting time can be indicated to thecustomer and displayed at relatively high accuracy.

Also, the management system for handling transactions further comprisesqueue creating means for creating a queue in a transaction unit, basedon the transaction management information and the reception waitinginformation that are stored in the database. Therefore, the waiting timecan be optimized to relieve a customer's sense of “being kept waiting”.

According to another aspect of the invention, a management system forhandling transactions comprises a plurality of contract/consultingmachines (e.g. ACMs) for accepting a procedure request for apredetermined transaction from a customer, a plurality of consultingoperation terminals (e.g. ROTs) for handling the procedure request fromthe customer at the contract/consulting machine (e.g. ACMs) by anoperator, and a queue monitoring device for managing the operatorwaiting for or receiving the customer at the consulting operationterminal (e.g. ROTs) on a transaction skill basis, and monitoring aqueue of the contract/consulting machine to be formed on the transactionskill in response to the procedure request accepted from thecontract/consulting machine.

The queue monitoring device displays a list of contract/consultingmachines (e.g. ACMs) waiting to be assigned with a priority level, andtherefore is favorable in that the present assignment waiting conditionis easier to grasp.

Also, the queue monitoring device allows the queue to be changed bychanging the priority level in the list of contract/consulting machines(e.g. ACMs) to be displayed, and therefore is favorable in that thewaiting time of predetermined customer can be shortened by the judgementof the supervisor.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided aterminal comprising: request accepting means for accepting a receptionrequest for a predetermined transaction from the customer; output meansfor outputting the reception request accepted by the request acceptingmeans, including the information of the predetermined transaction, to aserver; receiving means for receiving, from the server, an estimatedwaiting time for the reception request output from the output means, theestimated waiting time being determined from a reception status of oneor more persons in charge having transaction skills; and display meansfor displaying the estimated waiting time received from the receivingmeans.

The terminal may further comprise customer identification means foridentifying the customer making the reception request, whereby if theidentified customer is an excellent customer, an operator with higherspecialty can be allocated, so that the satisfaction of the customer isenhanced.

The receiving means receives the estimated waiting time being determinedbased on the information of the identified customer, whereby theestimated waiting time can be newly displayed on the basis of changedpriority level.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided aterminal for handling a transaction for a customer by an operator, theoperator terminal being connectable to a plurality of client devices atwhich the customer makes a reception request, comprising: communicationmeans for communicating with a server providing the informationregarding the allocation of the client devices, and accepting means foraccepting a log-on request from the operator who has been registered asthe person having a predetermined transaction skill, wherein thecommunication means transmits the log-on request accepted by theaccepting means, including the information of the operator, to theserver, and receives a reception instruction for transactions that canbe handled by the operator from the server.

A preferred form of a management server according to this invention isas follows. The management server comprises: request receiving means forreceiving a connection request from a customer terminal, the requestreceiving means being connected to a plurality of terminals requestingexecution of a predetermined transaction; status receiving means forreceiving information that an operator having a predeterminedtransaction skill can handle the transaction at an operator terminal,the status receiving means being connected to a plurality of operatorterminals that are operated by the operators; queue setting means forsetting a queue for the customer terminal sending the connection requestfor each transaction; and allocation means for allocating the operatorterminal operated by the operator to the customer terminal in the queuefor each transaction, based on the transaction skill of the operator forhandling each transaction that is provided by the status receivingmeans.

The queue is managed in a state where the customer terminals have apriority level appended, and the management server may further comprisetransmitting means for transmitting data on the number of waitingconsumers determined from the queue to the customer terminal.

Also, the management server may further comprise waiting time settingmeans for setting an estimated waiting time for each transaction basedon the queue provided by the queue setting unit and waiting time datatransmitting means for transmitting the estimated waiting time data setby the waiting time setting means to the customer terminal sending theconnection request. This waiting time setting means may correspond to adatabase used to calculate the waiting time passed to the managementserver.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a devicecomprising receiving means for receiving queue information of customerterminals requesting a reception with an operator and waiting forconnection with the operator, from a database; display means fordisplaying the queue information received by the receiving means,including the information of transaction type and a priority for eachtransaction type; priority changing means for changing the prioritydisplayed on the display means; and transmitting means for transmittingthe information of priority changed by the priority changing means tothe database.

The display means displays a warning on a queue monitoring terminal ofany customer terminal that still resides in the queue after the elapseof a predetermined time, and therefore is favorable in that the customerwith a long waiting time is more noticeable. The warning may bedisplayed in a color (e.g., yellow) or flashed.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a methodof assigning an operator terminal, comprising the steps of receiving aconnection request from a customer terminal that requests execution of apredetermined transaction requiring an operator's response, receiving alog-on process of the operator terminal that can handle the customer'srequest, assigning to the requesting customer terminal, the operatorterminal of the operator that can handle the requested transaction basedon previously inputted information on operator's transaction skills, andadding the customer terminal to a queue created for each transaction ifany operator with the transaction skills that can handle the requestedtransaction cannot be found.

The method may further comprise the steps of calculating an estimatedwaiting time for the customer terminal added to the queue and notifyingcustomer terminal of the calculated estimated waiting time. Thereby, itis possible to minimize the customer's complaint of “being kept waiting”and reduce the risk of losing opportunity on the operation side.

Also, the method may further comprise the steps of managing the customerterminal added to the queue in due order for each transaction, andaccepting change of the order to be managed. Thereby, there is no needfor a customer making an operation error to stand at the end of a lineagain by raising the order of the customer.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided astorage medium storing program code to be executed by a computer. Thisprogram code enables the computer to perform the steps of receiving aconnection request from a customer terminal that requests execution of apredetermined transaction requiring an operator's response, assigning tothe requesting customer terminal, an operator terminal of the operatorthat can handle the requested transaction based on the previouslyinputted information on operators' transaction skills and adding thecustomer terminal to a queue created for each transaction if an operatorwith the transaction skills to handle the requested transaction cannotbe found. This storage medium is suitably a CD-ROM, for example. Theprogram may be read by a CD-ROM reading device for the computer on theserver side in a client server system, and stored in a hard disk drivefor the computer.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described belowin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a systemaccording to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an SACD server anda queue monitoring terminal;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) and an ROT (Remote OperationTerminal;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing display examples of a managementscreen for the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) and the ROT(Remote Operation Terminal), respectively;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams showing examples of display screens forperson-in-charge management;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display screen for a list of ACMs waitingfor reception;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display screen for a list of persons incharge waiting for reception;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing flow in a transaction queuecalculating system;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an assigning process;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process for updating an estimatedwaiting time;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a connection request process that isperformed in the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine); and

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a process for a connection request from aperson in charge of the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a systemaccording to an embodiment of the invention. This system has a serverand a client, and comprises an SACD (Software Automatic CallDistribution) server 10 as the center of the financial institution, anda queue monitoring terminal 30 for managing the system as the client. Asanother client, the system comprises a plurality of ACMs (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machines) 40 that are customer terminals and aplurality of ROTs (Remote Operation Terminals) 50 that are operatorterminals on the center side. The ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40 is installed at a plurality of business offices or brancheswhich the financial institution possesses, and operated by customers whodesire to make various kinds of enquiries or contracts. The ROT (RemoteOperation Terminal) 50 is installed mainly in a business center of thefinancial institution, and operated by the operator (person in charge)with the skills for handling the transactions such as a loan and aninvestment trust. These servers and clients may be connected via privatelines provided for the financial institution, for example.

The SACD server 10 operates under an operating system (OS) such as AIX(UNIX for IBM Corporation) or UNIX, and allocates the ROT (RemoteOperation Terminal) 50 while communicating with the queue monitoringterminal 30. Also, the SACD server 10 has a database (DB) that ismaintained and operated by the Data Base Management System (DBMS). Bymaking access to this database, the waiting situation can be displayedat each terminal. The queue monitoring terminal 30 provides theenvironment for effecting various operations to optimize a waiting timeof the customer. For example, the queue monitoring terminal 30determines a reception condition of the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal)50, a status of availability of the operator, and a service condition ofthe ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, and from these canchange the priority level in the queue. In changing this priority, whenthe customer is waiting for a certain time period or more, e.g., 40 to50 minutes, at the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, thequeue monitoring terminal 30 displays a warning, and notifies thesupervisor to take a predetermined action, or to raise the priority bymanual operation or under automatic control. For example, even if theROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 is connected to the operator incharge of another transaction due to an operation error of the customer,the transaction is accepted preferentially without need of lining upagain. The queue monitoring terminal 30 is not necessarily providedseparately from the SACD server 10, but its function may be providedinside the SACD server 10.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the SACD server 10and the queue monitoring terminal 30. The SACD server 10 comprises acentral processing unit 11 that is a CPU for controlling the SACD server10, a main storage unit 12 which may include a RAM that is a workingmemory for the central processing unit 11, a display unit 13 fordisplaying various sorts of information, an input unit 14 which mayinclude a mouse and a keyboard, and an auxiliary storage unit 15 such asa hard disk drive (HDD), for example. This auxiliary storage unit 15comprises a database 20 that stores the resource information orconnection information for the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40 or the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50. This database 20stores an ROT list 21, a transaction group list 22, a person-in-chargeskill management table 23, a working ROT management table 24, and anassignment waiting ACM management table 25.

The ROT list 21 in the database 20 contains a table of informationregarding plural ROTs (Remote Operation Terminals) 50, including thelog-on or log-off state. The transaction group list 22 containsinformation regarding the transaction group allocated to the person incharge (operator) with the predetermined skills, according to atransaction ID and a transaction name. The person-in-charge skillmanagement table 23 contains a list of transactions that can be handledby the person in charge for each transaction group. The working ROTmanagement table 24 contains the identification information of person incharge, and the data of one or more transactions that can be handled, aswell as the situation data of the person in charge who is waiting forreception or engaged in reception. Also, the assignment waiting ACMmanagement table 25 contains the terminal name, the contents ofrequested transactions, the waiting times, and the priorities. A queueis substantially made up of the data of the working ROT management table24 and the assignment ACM management table 25, whereby a request fromthe customer is controlled in this queue for each transaction.

Firstly, the SACD server 10 has a DB management function for managingthe database 20 by connecting to the DBMS set up on the same host.Further, the SACD server 10 has an ACM management function for notifyingassignment, estimated waiting time and a number of persons waiting forthe ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 by accepting a connection requestfrom the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, an ROTmanagement function for accepting a request for log-on or log-off fromthe person in charge of the registered ROT (Remote Operation Terminal)50, or notifying the assignment from the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40, and a supervisor terminal managementfunction for accepting the log-on or log-off of the queue monitoringterminal 30 or a state management request. Furthermore, the SACD server10 has a log management function for managing the logging as a whole anda reconnection function to be made after the recovery from the fault toeffect a fault recovery processing.

The queue monitoring terminal 30 comprises a central processing unit 31that is a CPU for controlling the queue monitoring terminal 30, a mainstorage unit 32 that is a working memory of the central processing unit31, a display unit 33 for displaying the availability condition of theoperator, and a service condition or a waiting condition of the ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, an input unit 34 forinputting a change in the waiting condition, like changing the priorityin the queue by the supervisor, and an auxiliary storage unit 35 thatincludes of an HDD, for example. The information required for displayingthe waiting condition is passed from the SACD server 10 to the queuemonitoring terminal 30 via the database 20. Also, the informationregarding the change of the queue that is made by the operator whooperates the queue monitoring terminal 30 is passed from the queuemonitoring terminal 30 to the SACD server 10.

The queue monitoring terminal 30 has a log-on/log-off function formaking a log-on or log-off under the administration of the supervisor.Also, the queue monitoring terminal 30 has a resource managementfunction for enabling management (create, delete, change and display oflist) by the person in charge, transaction group, the information of theACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, and the information ofthe ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50. Also, the queue monitoringterminal 30 has a queue monitoring function for monitoring theconnection status of the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 that islogged on and a list of ACMs (Automated Contract/Consulting Machines) 40waiting to be assigned. Further, the queue monitoring terminal 30 has aconnection support function for changing the priority of assignment forthe ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 waiting to beassigned to the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 and the ROT (Remote OperationTerminal) 50. The ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40comprises a central processing unit 41 for controlling the ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, a main storage unit 42 thatis a working memory of the central processing unit 41, a display unit 43for displaying various sorts of menu regarding the contract orconsulting, an input unit 44 (including a touch panel) for enabling thecustomer to input various sorts of information based on the menudisplayed on the display unit 43, a printing device 45 that is a printerfor printing out the contract, application or notice, and an imagereading device 46 that is a scanner for scanning the contract orapplication filled out by the customer. Also, the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 comprises an auxiliary storage unit 47composed of an HDD, a medium reading device 48 for reading anidentification medium such as a money card for the customer, and a videoconference system device 49 for interacting with the operator andconnected to the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50. A log-on or ACMconnection request is issued from the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40 to the SACD server 10. Also, the display information ofwaiting condition is output from the database 20 of the SACD server,along with the information reflecting a change in the waiting condition.The display unit 43 displays the present number of waiting persons, andthe estimated waiting time as the display of the waiting conditionreceived from the SACD server 10. In the case where the waitingcondition is received from the SACD server 10 at every fixed interval(e.g., one minute), the newest waiting condition is displayed on thebasis of the received contents.

The ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 makes a request forassignment of the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50, whilecommunicating with the SACD server 10 in a certain communication form(e.g., RMI communication of Java) in a Java application operating on theoperating system, for example. The client of the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 manages three states, including a stateduring the reception, a waiting state for assignment of the ROT (RemoteOperation Terminal) 50 (during the service but no assignment for the ROTfor reception is made yet), and a service start waiting state. The ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 has an ROT assignment requestfunction of issuing a request for assignment of the ROT (RemoteOperation Terminal) 50, and an ROT assignment condition notifyingfunction of notifying the estimated waiting time or the number ofwaiting persons. Besides, the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40 has an ROT assignment interruption function of interruptingthe ROT assigned state, an ACM fault recovery function of makingcompulsorily initialization when a fault occurs, and a direct connectionrequest receiving function of making a request for direct connectionfrom the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50.

The ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 comprises a central processingunit 51 for controlling the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50, a mainstorage unit 52 that is a working memory of the central processing unit51, a display unit 53 for displaying the contract transmitted from theACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, an input unit 54composed of a mouse and a keyboard for enabling the operator to make aninput for the contents displayed on the display unit 53, a videoconference device 55 for interacting with the customer and connected tothe video conference device 49 provided in the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40, and an auxiliary storage unit 56 as amemory for storing the OS. A log-on or log-off request is issued fromthe ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 to the SACD server 10. Also, theACM connection request assignment information is output from the SACDserver to the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50.

The ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 deals with a request from the ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, while communicating with theSACD server 10 in a certain communication form (e.g., RMI communicationof Java) in a Java application operating on the operating system, forexample, in the same manner as the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40. The client of the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50manages three states, including a state during the reception, areception waiting state (logged on but no assignment is made yet), and alog-off state. The ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 has alog-on/log-off function of making a log-on or log-off for the SACDserver 10, an assignment notification function of accepting anassignment notification of the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40, a response end request function of issuing a request forending the connection between the ACM and the ROT, an ROT fault recoveryfunction of making recovery from the fault, a supervisor callingfunction of calling the supervisor while the person in charge makes thereception for the guest, and an ACM direct connection function ofdirectly calling the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40being connected.

Referring to FIGS. 4 to 7, the display screens for management displayedon the display unit 33 for the queue monitoring terminal 30 will bedescribed below. The same display screens may be displayed on thedisplay unit 13 for the SACD server 10, including a case where the SACDserver 10 has a function of the queue monitoring terminal 30, wherebythe supervisor employing the SACD server 10 can perform a series ofprocesses.

FIGS. 4A and 4B respectively show the display examples of a managementscreen for the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 and theROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50. FIG. 4A is a diagram showing anexample of display screen for the ROT management, and FIG. 4B is adiagram showing an example of display screen for the ACM management. Onthe display screen for the ROT management as shown in FIG. 4A, an ROT-ID61 that is identification data provided for each terminal of the ROTs(Remote Operation Terminals) 50, a terminal name 62, a host name 63 towhich each ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 belongs, the faultinformation 64 indicating a reason why each terminal cannot beconnected, and a telephone number 65 nearest to the terminal aredisplayed by receiving the table information of the ROT list 21 in thedatabase 20. The event buttons that can be designated by the supervisorare arranged at the lower part of this ROT management display screen.For example, the display screen transfers to a main page for the SACDmanagement tool by pushing a button “Return”, and transfers to an addpage, a change page or a delete page for the ROT management by pushing abutton “Add”, “Change” or “Delete”, respectively.

On the display screen for the ACM management as shown in FIG. 4B, anACM-ID 66 that is identification data selected for each terminal, aterminal name 67 of that terminal, a branch number 68 at which thatterminal is placed, a host name 69 to which the terminal is connected,and a telephone number 70 placed aside the terminal are displayed as themanagement information for the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40. Various sorts of event buttons are arranged at the lowerpart of this display screen. For example, the display screen transfersto a main page for the SACD management tool by pushing a button“Return”, and transfers to an add page, a change page or a delete pagefor the ACM management by pushing a button “Add”, “Change” or “Delete”,respectively.

FIGS. 5A and 5B respectively show the display examples of aperson-in-charge management. FIG. 5A is a diagram showing an example oflist display screen for the person-in-charge management, and FIG. 5B isa diagram showing an example of an add/change page screen for theperson-in-charge management. On the display screen for theperson-in-charge management as shown in FIG. 5A, a person-in-charge ID71, a person-in-charge name 72, a division 73, and a transaction groupname 74 are displayed. This person-in-charge management screen makes itpossible to sort the data by the person-in-charge name 72. Also, thetransaction group name 74 is acquired from the transaction group list 22using the transaction group ID as a key by retrieving the recordcorresponding to the person-in-charge ID 71 from the person-in-chargeskill management table 23 stored in the database 20. At this time, aplurality of transaction groups may be selected. The display screentransfers to a main page for the SACD management tool by pushing abutton “Return” at the lower part of this display screen and transfersto an add page, a change page or a delete page for the person-in-chargemanagement by pushing a button “Add”, “Change” or “Delete”,respectively.

On the add (change) page display screen for the person-in-chargemanagement as shown in FIG. 5B, the person-in-charge ID 71, theperson-in-charge name 72, and the division 73 can be input individually.By inputting a password 75, an addition (change) processing can be made.A plurality of transaction group names 74 can be selected by checking aselection check box. By pushing a “Cancel” button at the lower part ofthe screen, the display screen can be transferred to theperson-in-charge management page without adding to the database 20.Also, a check for added or input items in the database 20 is made bypushing an “OK” button. If the check is OK, the display screen transfersto the person-in-charge management screen as shown in FIG. 5A.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the display screens for the queue that are the mostcharacteristic configuration in this embodiment. FIG. 6 shows a displayscreen of a reception waiting ACM list, and FIG. 7 shows a displayscreen of a reception waiting person-in-charge list. These areconfigured to be recognized by the supervisor in which the queuemonitoring terminal 30 is operated, and displayed on the display unit 33of the queue monitoring terminal 30. The function of the queuemonitoring terminal 30 may be provided in the SACD server 10, anddisplayed on the display unit 13 for the SACD server 10.

In the reception waiting ACM list as shown in FIG. 6, a field 80 for thetransaction group name is provided, and by entering a transaction groupname to be selected in this field, the queue can be displayed in a unitof transaction group. If “ALL” is input into the transaction group nameto be selected, all the transaction groups can be displayed at the sametime.

In this display example of the ACM list, a waiting time 81 of the guestat the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 is displayed(e.g., in minutes and seconds). Also, a transaction group ID 82 foridentifying the transaction group, a transaction group name 83, anACM-ID 84 for identifying the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40, a terminal name 85, and a telephone number 86 for emergencydisposed adjacent to the terminal are displayed. Also, a priority 87 ofthe queue and a warning 88 are displayed. Further, the display screentransfers to a main page of the SACD management tool by pushing a“Return” button, and the input priority can be reflected in the DB bypushing a “priority update” button.

For this priority 87, all the transactions may be given the samepriority. However, in this embodiment, the transactions may be orderedfor each transaction group that is a unit of transaction skill to createone queue in a unit of transaction skill. For example, the loantransactions include an “small loan” in which evidence and the person inquestion can be confirmed relatively easily and a “home loan” in whichhigh skills are required. In this embodiment, these loans are handled byseparate queues. When each transaction is accepted in the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40, the processing time for every dealingis logged in the database 20, and a program for calculating the averagedealing time for each transaction is executed at a predetermined timingin the central processing unit 31 of the queue monitoring terminal 30.Thereby, upon a connection request for each transaction from the ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, the average waiting time iscalculated on the basis of the number of persons in charge oftransaction in the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 that is logged on,and the skill level and the expertness for each person in charge oftransaction, whereby the “number of waiting persons” and the “estimatedwaiting time” can be displayed in the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40.

In the case where the waiting time 81 exceeds the predicted assignmenttime, a number is displayed in a field of the warning 88. In thisdisplay of the warning 88, if the excess time is within n×10 minutes,“n” is displayed. The line with the warning 88 may be highlighted inyellow, for example.

Further, in the display of the reception waiting ACM list as shown inFIG. 6, the assignment waiting ACM management table 25 is read from thedatabase 20 at every time interval, for example, every one minute,whereby the latest information is displayed. However, if the priority isinput, the latest information may not be displayed till the priorityupdate button is pushed. The waiting time 81 is sorted in the order oflonger time.

Further, in this embodiment, the order of priority can be changed foreach ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, employing thereception waiting ACM list display as shown in FIG. 6. For example, in acase where the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 isconnected to the operator in charge of another transaction due to anoperation error of the guest, the priority can be changed using the“priority update” button, thereby accepting the transaction with higherpriority, so that there is no need for the customer to line up again. Ifthe waiting time is beyond a certain period, and a message of thewarning 88 is displayed, the order of priority can be raised byjudgement of the supervisor that operates the queue monitoring terminal30.

On the display screen of the reception waiting person-in-charge list asshown in FIG. 7, it is displayed that a person in charge belonging to atransaction group waits for an acceptance/consulting for a time period.Firstly, a field 90 for the transaction group name is provided, and atransaction group name to be selected is input in this field, wherebythe reception waiting situation can be displayed in a unit oftransaction group. Also, If “ALL” is input into the transaction groupname field, all the transaction groups can be displayed at the sametime. In the display screen of the person-in-charge list as shown inFIG. 7, a person-in-charge ID 91 for identifying the person in charge, aperson-in-charge name 92, a division 93 of whether the person in chargeis an employee or a part timer, a transaction group ID 94 to which theperson in charge belongs, and the transaction group name 95 aredisplayed. For each person in charge, a last reception date 96 isdisplayed. In an example as shown in FIG. 7, the persons in charge aresorted in the earlier order of the last reception date 96, whereby theperson in charge can deal with the customer in the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 with almost even chance. That is, thepersons in charge are allocated in the earlier order of the lastreception date 96 for each skill to be handled, whereby allocation oftransaction is implemented efficiently and fairly, using the queue, forthe person in charge of acceptance (operator) on the center side. Thedisplay screen transfers to a main page of the SACD management tool bypushing a “Return” button at the lower part of the screen.

As described above, in this embodiment, a scheme for managing the queueinformation is provided for the supervisor of the queue monitoringterminal 30 placed at the center of the financial institution. Thisqueue information is created for each transaction such as a loan or aninvestment trust, whereby the queue of customers employing the ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 is allocated efficiently tothe person in charge (operator) in the bank who operates the ROT (RemoteOperation Terminal) 50.

Waiting situation information output from the queue monitoring terminal30 is displayed via the SACD server 10 on the display unit 43 for theACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40. The display contents forthe ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 include the“estimated waiting time” and the “number of persons waiting”. Since this“number of persons waiting” is allocated for each transaction in charge,an equal number of persons can be displayed for a plurality of ACMs(Automated Contract/Consulting Machines) 40 without being prejudiced infavor of a specific operator. Also, the “estimated waiting time” is notan approximate waiting time based on the empirical rules as in the past,but may be allocated by the method in this embodiment, whereby theestimated waiting time can be displayed accurately and appropriately.That is, it is possible to average variation in the waiting time causedby the transaction skills of the operator, so that the average of adealing time including the waiting time can be shortened. By taking itsresult into consideration for the “estimated waiting time”, the actualtime of “being kept waiting” can be closer to the estimated time, sothat the customer feels less sense of “being kept waiting”.

A processing flow in this system (mainly the SACD server 10) will bedescribed below using the flowcharts as shown in FIGS. 8 to 12.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process in a queue calculating system foreach transaction according to this embodiment of the invention. In thissystem, if the service is started, initialization is first performed(step 101). Thereafter, the procedure is suspended until there is anyrequest from the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 or theROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 (step 102). Then, a check is made todetermine whether or not the request is a log-on request from the personin charge in the bank (step 103). In the case of the log-on request, itis checked whether or not a record of the person in charge who makes thelog-on request exists in the table of the ROT list 21 in the database 20(step 104). If the record does not exist in the table, the procedurereturns to position “a” before step 102. If the record exists in thetable, it is checked whether or not a record of the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 corresponding to the skill of the personin charge making the log-on request that is indicated on theperson-in-charge skill management table 23 exists in the assignmentwaiting ACM management table 25 in the database 20 (step 105). If therecord in the corresponding ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine)40 exists, an assigning process is performed (step 106), and then theprocedure returns to the position “a” before step 102. If the record ofthe corresponding ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 doesnot exist, the record for the person in charge making the log-on requestis added to the working ROT management table 24 in the database 20 andthe table is updated (step 107). Then the procedure returns to position“a”.

If the request is not the log-on request from the person in charge atstep 103, it is checked whether or not the request is a connectionrequest from the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 (step108). If the request is the connection request, it is checked whether ornot there is any record for the person in charge corresponding to thetransaction skill demanded from the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40 in the working ROT management table 24 in the database 20(step 109). If there is any record for the person in charge, theassigning process is performed (step 110), and then the procedurereturns to position “a”. If there is no record for the person in charge,a record of the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 having aconnection request is added to the assignment waiting ACM managementtable 25 in the database 20 (step 111). Thereafter, an estimated waitingtime update processing is performed (step 112), and then the procedurereturns to position “a”.

If the request is not a connection request from the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 at step 108, it is checked whether ornot the request is a log-off request from the person in charge (step113). In the case of the log-off request from the person in charge, arecord for the person in charge making the log-off request is deletedfrom the working ROT management table 24 in the database 20 (step 114).The estimated waiting time update processing is performed (step 115),and then the procedure returns to position “a”.

If the request is not the log-off request at step 113, it is checkedwhether or not the request is a waiting cancel request from the ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 (step 116). In the case ofthe waiting cancel request, a record of the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 having the cancel request is deletedfrom the assignment waiting ACM management table 25 in the database 20,and the table is updated (step 117). Then the estimated waiting timeupdate processing is performed (step 118), and the procedure returns toposition “a”.

If the request is not the waiting cancel request at step 116, it ischecked whether or not the request is a connection end request (step119). If the request is not the connection end request, the procedurereturns to position “a”. This means that the person in charge continuesto process the queue. In the case of the connection end request, arecord for the person in charge making the connection end request isdeleted from the working ROT management table 24 in the database 20, andthe table is updated (step 120). It is checked whether or not there isany record for the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40corresponding to the skill for the person in charge making theconnection end request that is indicated by the person-in-charge skillmanagement table 23 in the assignment waiting ACM management table 25 inthe database 20 (step 121). If there is any record for the correspondingACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40, the assigning process isperformed (step 122), and then the procedure returns to position “a”. Ifthere is no record for the corresponding ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40, a record of the person in charge makingthe connection end request is added to the working ROT management table24 in the database 20 and the table is updated (step 123). Then theprocedure returns to position “a”.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an assigning process flow. In theassigning process, first of all, the person in charge is connected tothe ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 (step 201), in whichstep the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 and the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 are each notified of a network addressof the connected partner. The record for the person in charge connectedin the working ROT management table 24 in the database 20 is updated(step 202). Thereafter, the record of the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 connected is deleted from the assignmentwaiting ACM management table 25 in the database 20, and the assignmentwaiting ACM management table 25 is updated (step 203). An estimatedwaiting time is updated (step 204), and the assigning process is ended(step 205).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an estimated waiting time updatingprocess. In the estimated waiting time updating process, first of all,the estimated waiting time and the number of persons for each ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 are calculated on the basisof the person-in-charge skill management table 23, the working ROTmanagement table 24, and the assignment waiting ACM management table 25in the database 20 (step 211). In this embodiment, the estimated waitingtime and the number of persons are calculated for each transaction witha different processing time on the basis of the past data. Thereby, thewaiting time can be displayed with less variation and more accuracy.Since information about transaction skills for each person in charge isprovided, a more flexible assignment can be made to a customer's demandin the case where one person in charge can handle a plurality oftransaction skills, so that the optimized waiting time can be expected.Thereafter, the estimated waiting time that is on the assignment waitingACM management table 25 in the database 20 is sent to the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 (step 212), and the estimated waitingtime updating process is ended (step 213).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a connection request process that isperformed in the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40. Uponstart of the connection request, first of all, an ACM connection requestis issued to the SACD server 10 (step 301). Thereafter, the waiting timeand the number of waiting persons received from the SACD server 10 aredisplayed on the display unit 43 for the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 (step 302). Then, the procedure issuspended until the information is received from the SACD server 10 orthe waiting is canceled by an input from the ACM (AutomatedContract/Consulting Machine) 40 (step 303). Thereafter, it is checkedwhether or not the waiting is canceled by an input from the ACM(Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 (step 304). When canceled, awaiting cancel request is issued to the SACD server 10 (step 305), andthe connection request is ended (step 306). If not canceled at step 304,it is checked whether or not the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40 is connected to the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 (step307). If not connected, the procedure returns to step 302. If connected,the connection request is ended (step 308).

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a connection request process that isperformed by the person in charge of the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal)50. Upon start of the connection request, first of all, aperson-in-charge log-on request is issued to the SACD server 10 (step401). Then, the procedure is suspended until the information is receivedfrom the SACD server 10 or the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 islogged off by an input from the person in charge (step 402). Thereafter,it is checked whether or not the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 isconnected to the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 (step403). If connected, the connection request is ended (step 404). If notconnected, the ROT (Remote Operation Terminal) 50 is placed in anassignment waiting state, and it is checked whether or not the ROT(Remote Operation Terminal) 50 is logged off by an input from the personin charge (step 405). If not logged off, the procedure returns to step402. If logged off, a person-in-charge log-off request is issued to theSACD sever 10 (step 406), and the connection request is ended (step407).

In this manner, in this embodiment, each of the transactions includinghome loans, other loans, investment trusts, and various notices isqueued for management. Generally, since the number of ROTs (RemoteOperation Terminals) 50 installed at a business center is smaller thanthe number of ACMs (Automated Contract/Consulting Machines) 40 installedat a business office or branch, all the requests cannot be allocated atthe same time. In this embodiment, however, each of the transactions isqueued for management, whereby the waiting time is shortened and theefficient allocation can be made. Because conventionally such a queuewas not provided, if all the ROTs (Remote Operation Terminals) 50 werein service, any request from the ACM (Automated Contract/ConsultingMachine) 40 was refused. In this embodiment, however, it is possible toreduce the loss of opportunity on the financial institution side thatmight occur due to refusal of the request.

Since the ACM (Automated Contract/Consulting Machine) 40 contains amedium reading device 48 as an input device of a card reader, forexample, the customer data can be designated in advance when in on-lineconnection to the host computer. Thereby, specific handling for thetransaction (e.g., explanation of commodity, printing the applicationform, and displaying an entry example) can be practiced in advance tothe customer for a waiting time until the operator is assigned. Thereby,after the operator is assigned, it is only necessary to make a check foromission in the document in accordance with a predetermined procedure,whereby the processing time after assigning the operator can be reduced.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the excellent customers can be selectedbecause the customer data can be designated. For the selected excellentcustomers, the more skilled operator is allocated, whereby it isexpected that the degree of customer satisfaction can be enhanced. In acase where the transaction desired by the guest clearly contributes tomore profits of the bank (e.g., loan or investment trust), the chance ofprofits can be increased.

As described above, with this invention, in assigning the operator whooperates the operator terminal upon a reception request from thecustomer terminal, the waiting time of the guest can be optimized.

1. A customer terminal for communicating with an operator terminal toprocess a transaction between a customer at the customer terminal and anoperator at the operator terminal, the customer terminal comprising: arequest accepting unit for accepting a reception request for atransaction of a given type from a customer; an outputting unit foroutputting the reception request and information about said transactionto a server; a receiving unit for receiving, from said server, anestimated waiting time for a reception requested by the receptionrequest and for receiving waiting conditions from the server at fixedintervals, the estimated waiting time being determined from a receptionstatus of at least one operator having a predetermined transaction skillto handle transactions of the given type; and a video conference systemdevice for interacting with said at least one operator at the operatorterminal and to enable video conferencing between the customer at thecustomer terminal and the operator at the operator terminal; a displayunit for displaying said estimated waiting time received by saidreceiving unit; and wherein the customer terminal manages three states,including: i) a waiting state, wherein the customer terminal waits forassignment to one of a group of operator terminals, ii) an assignmentstate, wherein the customer terminal has been assigned to one of theoperator terminals, and iii) a service state, wherein the requestedtransaction is handled by the operating terminal to which the requestedtransaction is assigned; when the customer terminal outputs thereception request, the estimated waiting time for the transactionrequested by the customer terminal, and the number of persons waitingfor other transactions of the given type of transaction requested by thecustomer terminal are displayed on the customer terminal; and thecustomer terminal includes: an operator terminal assignment interruptionfunction of interrupting the assignment state of the customer terminal;and a direct connection request receiving function of making a requestfor a direct connection from the one of the operator terminals; theserver, in response to the reception request from the customer terminal,checks to determine whether there is any record of an operator havingthe predetermined transaction skill needed to handle the transaction ofthe given type requested at the customer terminal; the customer has acustomer ID, and the customer is assigned to a selected one of theoperators on the basis of the customer's ID, and the reception status ofthe at least one operator having the predetermined transaction skill,and wherein once the customer is assigned to the selected operator, thestate of the customer terminal changes to the assignment state or theservice state; upon receiving the reception request, the servercalculates the estimated waiting time on the basis of the number ofoperators that have logged on the server, and a skill level and anexpertness for each of the operators at handling transactions of thegiven type requested at the customer terminal; the customer is put in aline to wait for one of the operators, and the state of the customerterminal is changed to the waiting state; the receiving unit receives apriority for said transaction based on given criteria including thereception status of the operator terminal of the at least one operatorhaving the predetermined transaction skill to handle transactions of thegiven type requested at the customer terminal; and when the customerterminal is connected to one of the operators in charge of anothertransaction due to an error of the customer, said priority is changed,thereby accepting the transaction with a higher priority, so there is noneed for the customer to line up again, to shorten the waiting time ofthe customer.
 2. The terminal according to claim 1, further comprising acustomer identification unit for identifying the customer making thereception request, wherein said estimated waiting time is determinedfurther based on information about the customer identified by saidcustomer identification unit.
 3. The customer terminal according toclaim 1, wherein: after said estimated waiting time and the number ofwaiting persons are displayed, the reception request is suspended untilselected information is received from the server; thereafter, a check ismade to determine if the customer terminal is connected to one of theoperator terminals; and if the customer terminal is connected to one ofthe operator terminals, the reception request is ended.